


Virtue and Sin

by CrystalMoon884



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gatlon is a pretty cool place, Gen, Lots of headcanon world-building, POV switch between Nova and Adrian, Third Person POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 21:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13749279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalMoon884/pseuds/CrystalMoon884
Summary: After her fight with Ingrid, Nova finds out that her uncle, Ace Artino, is alive and still is a prodigy. He learns about her relationship with Adrian Everhart and gives her one mission: kill Captain Chromium's son to seal the wound of her family's murder.But when Nova hears a higher purpose calling for her attention, she soon learns that the Anarchists and the Renegades have more in common than she thought. She begins to rally with a bigger purpose, but in doing so, she makes enemies with every powerful player in Gatlon.





	Virtue and Sin

**Author's Note:**

> Just some fair warning before we go too far, I want to let everyone know that because the book Renegades doesn't do a whole lot when it comes to world building (outside of a few places in Gatlon, we don't know too much about the rest of the world) I'm going to be filling in the holes as they come up. Since the second book doesn't come out until November of 2018, (according to the copy of Renegades that I have on hand) about 80-90% of anything to do with Gatlon city is my own headcanon. And I have a lot of ideas.  
> For all intensive purposes, we're going to assume that things like physics and gravity on whatever planet Gatlon is on are like Earth's, which means that it probably is inhabited by most of the same biological and geological phenomena that we have. We can also infer that because prodigies exist that they have some sort of religion associated with them, and some sort of origin story for all prodigies. And we also need to assume that because prodigies are different, that there are going to be people who hate them, and who start hate groups (like a Nazi party, but in Gatlon).  
> So, if you're someone who's looking for an resolution before the next book you're in the right place. If you're someone who's looking for some good fan fiction, then you're also in the right place.  
> Enjoy!

The stars twinkled above Nova’s head as she spent yet another night atop the house that was still technically hers.

      Nova knew that eventually someone would question what she was doing up atop her house so late at night. A drug dealer would pass by and call up at her, a person walking home from a long shift at work would gaze up at the stars and see Nova’s shape silhouetted over the sky. Through the din of the cityscape, Nova looked out for the dealer, and for the employee. Nova was relieved when she saw no one, but it made her wonder where the people were. She hoped they were okay.

     Shaking away the feeling of dread, Nova looked back up at the stars. Tonight, the lights of city were darker than usual – the city’s power plant was running on some hard times, and not even the Renegades could help with the fossil fuel supply – and Nova loved it. There was nothing more peaceful than seeing Orion in the stars. She remembered the stories she had made up for the shapes in the night sky.

     Nova could remember telling those stories to her parents. Her mother would implore her to write them down, and one time Nova had. Her father would tell her that her stories sounded beautiful, and he’d ask her to tell them to Evie as bedtime stories. Nova wasn’t sure, but she thought that Evie liked them, too. And her uncle, when he’d hear those stories, would smile and tell Nova what a great imagination she had.

     At the thought of her uncle, Nova pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on them. Sure, Nova was glad that he was alive, but she still couldn’t help but be a little angry with him. How could he have just sat alone in a tunnel while the Anarchists had needed him? How could he just sit idly by when his team, his family, had needed him? Nova knew that he had his reasons, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

     Nova dug her fingernails deep into her flesh to drive away her feelings, and she shifted her gaze to the amusements park where Adrian had taken her on an almost-date just a week ago. It was hard to believe that it had only been last week that Nova had been parading around as a Renegade, pretending to be Insomnia. It felt like entire lifetimes ago, probably because so much had changed in the span of that week.

      Ace had told Nova to try to gain more friends within the Renegades, and learn as much as she could, as if she weren’t already doing so. Nova wasn’t annoyed at her uncle so much as Phobia for not telling Ace what all had happened since he had checked out at the end of the Age of Anarchy. Nova knew that Ace, Honey, Leroy and Phobia were all busy coming up with a new plan of attack to take down the Renegades, and they were probably working this very second. To Nova’s irritation, they weren’t allowing her to be a part of the deliberations. Nova worried that the fact that she had killed Ingrid had changed what the rest of the Anarchists thought of her.

     Nova had never been happier that she couldn’t sleep until she had killed Ingrid. Sometimes, Nova could still see Ingrid’s body. The way her head snapped back. The way her blood smeared across the dusty board that her back was slumped against. How her body fell, no longer a force to be reckoned with. Nova had turned the woman from a person to just a body.

      When Nova thought about Ingrid again, her fingers dug farther into her legs. Nova felt a slight biting pain, but she ignored it as she gazed over at the broken skyline of Gatlon. Nova released her grip of her knees and lifted her fingers up to her face. She grimaced when she saw that they were coated in a thin layer of blood. Nova looked down at her leg to inspect the damage, and found that she had somehow found a way to cut through her leggings to cut into her own flesh.

     Nova threw her legs over the side of her house again and looked up at the sky one last time, savoring the way that the stars twinkle and shine. Nova took a leaped off her roof and fell into her backyard below, landing with knees bent slightly and her feet absorbing the shock perfectly. Even in the dark, Nova could pick out the overgrown weeds from the crabgrass that was below her feet, and she remembered how Honey had suggested that they plant some flowers out here.

     Stepping over to her back door, Nova didn’t bother to wipe off her feet before stepping into her kitchen. Everything in the house was still covered in a layer of dirt and dust, and no matter how thick or fine it might be, Nova didn’t think that tracking a few dandelion seeds or a couple small piles of dirt would matter all that much to the aesthetic properties of the house.

     Before leaving, Nova took off her Renegade tracking bracelet and set it down on her couch, hoping that it would just appear like she was going to bed early. Nova straightened her hoodie and zipped it up before walking out of her house and reaching into her hoodie pocket for her key. She locked the house without thinking much about it, and then turned on her heel to head back home. She pulled her hood up over her head to keep people from seeing her face.

     Nova had all but memorized the best way to get back to the tunnels from the house. She slipped through alleyways and through shadowy places in an effort to not be seen. Her black clothing and quiet steps helped in this effort, and she felt invisible as she passed houses and apartment buildings without raising any eyebrows. Five minutes of light travel later, Nova came upon the opening to the tunnels. She checked over her shoulder once before slipping into the tunnels.

    Darkness met Nova, but she was unbothered by it. Spending years down in the tunnels meant that she knew exactly where everything was, even in little or no light. Nova wondered if she could possibly find some kind of night vision goggles that could help her see better down in the tunnels during a fight, that way she could kill the lights and be able to see just fine while her enemies floundered because they couldn’t see.

     A small smile crept across Nova’s face as she thought about it that possibility. It would be funny to watch as Renegades struggled to see during a fight while Nova was able to mop the floor with them. The dream was ruined when Nova imagined Ruby, Oscar and Adrian fighting next to her. She pushed away the idea, not wanting to think about the team of Renegades whom she had befriended by lying.

     She didn’t want to think about them because she didn’t like the idea of lying to them, Nova told herself as she pulled her hood down from her head and took a deep breath to stabilize herself. She fidgeted with her fingers for a second before biting her lip and mentally telling herself to pull herself together. She was Nova Artino, and she didn’t worry about what Renegades thought of her. She didn’t need them.

     “It’s good to see you, Nova.” A voice sounded behind Nova, and a twinge of fear mixed with anxiety snuck into her mind, and it pulled her from her thoughts. “Your uncle wants to see you later, you know.”

      Nova’s head snapped up as she looked at Leroy, who was mixing chemicals together in a place that wasn’t his train car. He was standing at a makeshift table made from PVC piping and plywood that stood just high enough for Leroy to work at without having to bend over. His feet were planted on the same platform that the Puppeteer had set up his tents on, and Nova wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to Winston not occupying the space that Leroy was standing in.

     “He does? I’ll see him later, I’m sure whatever you’re doing is more interesting.” Nova mumbled as she walked up to Leroy’s table. She figured that going to see Ace could wait, her uncle would understand if she decided to be a little late to talk to Leroy. The chemicals that Leroy was working with didn’t seem to be too deadly, he wasn’t wearing gloves or goggles. “What are you making? Bombs? They’re bombs, aren’t they?”

     “Not exactly.” Leroy said with a tiny smile as he dumped a teaspoon of a strange orange chemical into a powder that looked like flour. The two reactants didn’t fizz or bubble inside of the beaker that they were both trapped in. “I’m making a poison I haven’t been able to make in _years._ One of the chemicals is hard to come by these days, but I was able to get my hands on it. This is a big deal, Nova. If I can get this in even _one_ of the rooms of the Renegade’s base. . .”

     Leroy trailed off, lost in thought as he stared into the distance. Nova’s stomach dropped as she thought about all of the people who could be hurt if Leroy indiscriminately threw whatever concoction he was making straight into the Renegade’s headquarters. Nova shook her head and told herself to stop being stupid. These were the people who had allowed her family to die, was she a big enough fool to trust them?

     “How’d you get your hand on the chemical you needed?” Nova pulled up a stool that was standing alone a few feet away from the table and set it next to where Leroy was standing. Nova took a seat at the stool as Leroy shoved a metal stirring stick into the beaker to mix the chemicals together. “We don’t have any legitimate money coming in these days, do we? It must have cost an arm and a leg if what you said is correct.”

     “I’m sure it cost a small fortune.” Leroy muttered as he began to measure out five fluid ounces of water to add to the mix. Nova loved watching him work, it reminded her of watching her mom cook when she was little. Leroy poured the water into the beaker, and still nothing fizzed. “But I didn’t buy it, Ace did. Apparently, he had some hidden away since before you were born. He must’ve known I liked to use this stuff.”

     “What _is_ the chemical you’re using?” Nova leaned forward on the stool to try and see any reaction that the chemicals had to the water. There was no steam, no smell, nothing. Disappointed, Nova leaned back in the stool. She loved to see Leroy’s reactions in action, ever since she was little it was her favorite thing to see. “Is it something to do with fossil fuel? Because not even the _Renegades_ can find enough of that these days.”

     “No, it’s not anything to do with fossil fuel.” Leroy responded as he reached for something in a light blue glass container. He had a small smile on his face at Nova’s comment about the Renegades. Leroy opened up the top of the light blue container and dumped a large amount into the beaker. “It’s called hexasulfide dioxide. It only exists in a solid state in certain temperature ranges, and it can be tricky to work with. People just don’t appreciate it like they should. It once made this world turn.”

     “How does it affect people?” Nova asked, intrigued by this new chemical. Nova knew a little about chemicals, thanks to Leroy, but she had never had a formal education, so the only chemistry ‘class’ she had was from Leroy himself. “Is it a nervous system thing, or is it a chemical that burns people’s lungs? Both of those sound like awful ways to die.”

     “I don’t really know how it kills people.” Leroy shrugged as he stirred the mixture furiously. Nova cocked her head in confusion. How did Leroy not know how a chemical affected people? Didn’t it make the chemical useless if he didn’t know everything about it? “All I know – well, all that I _care_ to know – about this chemical is that it kills people quickly. To be honest, hexasulfide dioxide is still a mystery to most scientists, myself included.”

     Nova didn’t respond to Leroy’s comment about his lack of information, and instead took to chastising him in her head. Yes, he was one of her favorite people and he had always been kind to her, even when others hadn’t, but that didn’t mean that he was perfect. Leroy had made his share of bad decisions, and playing with a chemical that he didn’t understand was one of them. Nova suddenly didn’t feel safe around the hexasulfide dioxide. If not even Leroy knew how it worked, who was to say that it wasn’t slowly killing both of them?

     “I’m going to go see Ace.” Nova excused herself and hopped down from the stool she was sitting on. Leroy gave a wave of goodbye in Nova’s general direction, and Nova walked away from him, to where she knew Ace was hiding away. Nova didn’t like the idea of Leroy playing with something he didn’t understand, but she assumed that she’d have to get over it. They were on the same team, after all.

     As Nova walked through the tunnels to see her uncle, she noticed that the tunnels seemed more alive than ever, despite the fact that less people lived in them than before. Honey’s wasps and bees ran messages to and from Anarchists at all hours so no one had to see each other to get a message across. This allowed the Anarchists to keep doing their part of the plan without moving from where they were sitting.

     More than the fact that there were small insects buzzing all around the tunnels to make the place livelier, the tunnels had a different air to them. There was a sense of almost _hope_ from the Anarchists. Yes, they were down in numbers and their biggest hopes rested upon a teenage girl, but Ace was alive! And although there had been a lot of shouting when Leroy and Honey learned that he was still alive, they quickly fell into place, just like the loyal soldiers that they were.

     Nova sometimes wondered if Leroy, Honey and Phobia needed Ace more than he needed them. Nova knew that the Anarchists were happy to see Ace, but she also wondered if maybe they were secretly happy when he died. Nova noticed the way that Honey looked when she talked about him, and the way that the light faded from Leroy’s eyes when he talked of Ace. Even Ingrid and Phobia had shown their disdain for Ace at some point, despite being his most loyal followers.

     Finally, Nova came upon the entrance to Ace’s hideout. Nova sighed lightly and removed the poster from the wall gingerly, not wanting to harm the ancient relic. Nova had gotten used to having to crawl on her hands and knees to see Ace. So far, she had seen him all of three times during the last week. The first had been when she’d seen him for the first time in years, second when he’d asked her what she’d done for the Anarchists while he was gone, and a third time to just talk.

     Nova rolled her eyes as she thought about the last time she’d seen her uncle. It hadn’t been to just talk, it had been for him to gauge just how willing she’d be to continue to be a spy. Ace, Leroy explained to Nova later, distrusted almost everyone he met. And, since he hadn’t seen Nova in years, he was worried that she was going to betray him. Nova knew that explaining to Ace that she wasn’t going to betray him wasn’t a good plan, Nova knew that trust was earned, not given.

     Nova wasn’t fully sure that she trusted Ace just yet, either. He wouldn’t explain to her how he was still a prodigy if Max had stolen his ability, and he didn’t seem to want to tell her why he’d pretended to be dead for so long. Nova wanted to yell at him, to tell him that she’d needed him, that they’d all needed him for years and he had been hiding just an arm’s length away all those years. She felt betrayed, but she was slowly learning to come to grips with what had happened.

     Ace had done what he thought was right for himself and for the Anarchists. It didn’t matter if Nova didn’t agree with his methods, his results spoke for themselves. According to Leroy, the Anarchists had never been so close to taking down the Renegades. They had never been so close to their goal.

     Nova pushed all thoughts of the Renegades from her mind as she placed her hand on the makeshift door to her uncle’s room. Nova knew that he was expecting her, but she still felt like a small child who was butting into a room unannounced and unwanted. With a burst of courage, Nova pushed open the door and braced herself for seeing her uncle again.

     “You’re late, my little nightmare.” Ace Artino called in a gruff voice from where he sat at his desk. He was leaned over a spread of different papers, all of them boasting different crests and seals that Nova could only imagine were less than reputable sources and allies. Ace lifted his head from his work and extended a hand to motion to a chair that was next to his desk. Without speaking a word, Nova closed the door behind her and moved to sit down in the seat that Ace had provided.

     “What are you reading?” Nova kept her tone light in an effort to make it seem like she didn’t care very much. In all honesty, the Anarchists had kept her very much in the dark about most of their contacts, and it kind of irritated Nova. Nova wasn’t a kid anymore, it wasn’t like the Anarchists had to keep the names of their contacts from her.

     “Letters of no consequence.” Ace replied as he turned his body to face Nova. His eyes, worn down from years of stress, hiding and fighting, looked cheerier than Nova had seen them in a while. Nova decided to take the light in his eyes as a good thing. “I have something I wish to discuss with you. I’m aware that you’ve been spending time with the Renegades, yes? And you’ve gotten to know Hugh Everhart’s son, Adrian?”

     “Yes, I know Adrian Everhart.” Nova said after a beat. She wasn’t sure where her uncle was going when he asked questions that he already knew that answers to. Part of Nova was unnerved by it, but she reminded herself to keep an open mind. Ace had a plan. “We’ve been teammates for a few weeks now, we’re pretty close. I’ve met his dads, too, out of costume. Simon and Hugh. They don’t act much like their alters.”

     “That they don’t.” Ace agreed with a nod of his head. He reached over to his desk, where he rummaged through his papers for a second before finding the papers that he was looking for. With a single movement, he placed a few pieces of paper into Nova’s hands. Cursive writing was scrawled over the top paper. “This is the early stages of our plan to take down the Renegades. Ingrid was obsessed with taking out the Everhart boy, and I can see where she’s coming from with that.”

     Nova’s stomach dropped as she looked over the plan again and again. She couldn’t make out most of the words, but she could clearly tell right away that this plan would involve a lot of blood. Nova wanted to tell Ace that their numbers were already so few, it didn’t make any sense for them to go and fight a huge group of better trained heroes. It was a suicide mission, plain and simple.

     And yet, Nova could see some well-thought out parts in the plan. Strike during a time when most patrols are out, convince smaller gangs to create diversions, take out the Renegades slowly a week before by using Leroy’s new poison to decimate some of their forces. In a sickening way, Nova felt herself wanting to congratulate Ace on his plan. It was obvious that it was what he had spent his time on while he was in hiding.

     “Now Nova,” Ace spoke in a level voice, “I need you to tell me if you’ve heard where my helmet is.”

     “Simon told me it was at the Renegade HQ.” Nova lifted her head up from the paper she was staring at intently. She met Ace’s eyes and saw only happiness in them. “He told me it was in the basement of Renegade Tower. He said that it was still being studied, and that it couldn’t be understood.”

     “Most of my brother’s work was so powerful it was beyond understanding.” Ace stared at the letters cluttering his desk for a moment as he calculated his words. Joy was still spread thinly across his face, despite the memory of his dead brother being put into his head again. “Nova, I need you to get me my helmet back. As you know, I am still a prodigy, and my power is vast. However, in order to be at my best, I _must_ have that helmet. Do you understand?”

     Nova, not sure what else to do, tightened her jaw and nodded once. Ace smiled when he saw that and patted Nova’s hand, showing some kind of familial love that Nova hadn’t seen from anyone in a long time. She could remember when Hugh had placed his hand on Adrian’s shoulder, but that had a different fell. Hugh was responsible for Adrian in a different way than Ace was responsible for Nova.

     “I have a few plans drawn up about how you can get my helmet out of the Renegade’s lair.” Ace opened up a drawer in his desk and shuffled through the neat and tidy papers before removing a few pieces of creamy white parchment. The papers he had pulled out were expensive, they looked like they were heavy, unlike the cheap paper that was everywhere in Gatlon. “We might have to draw up a new plan, since you can get through the door without raising any eyebrows. How lucky you are to be able to show your face.”

     Ace handed the plans over to Nova and Nova forgot about everything Ace had said. She could hardly believe that _in her hands_ was the key to helping to take down the Renegades. To bring freedom back to the people of Gatlon city, of the world. To get revenge for what happened to her family, for what had no doubt happened to so many others that the Renegades had failed to protect.

     Before Nova could start reading the papers that Ace had given her, he rested a hand on her eager fingers. Nova looked up and locked eyes with her uncle, not understanding what he was trying to say. Ace saw the confusion in Nova’s eyes and his gaze softened as he looked at her.

     “Nova, I need one last thing from you before you look through these papers.” Ace’s eyes locked onto Nova’s, and she could see the different hues of green and brown in his irises, a whole new world of color that she couldn’t even begin to describe. Nova wondered if her dad’s eyes looked like this once upon a time. “I want you, _Nightmare,_ to kill Hugh’s son.”

     Time stopped. Nova lost all sense of things that were happening around her, she just kept replaying her uncle’s words again and again in her head. Nova’s finger’s curled around the parchment and left tiny wrinkles in it. There was no way that she could kill Adrian. Not with his smile, his want and need to help other people, his aptitude for knowing what to say. He didn’t deserve to die. But, Nova reminded herself who she was. He was a Renegade, and needed to pay.

     “To demoralize Hugh and cripple him?” Nova’s voice was barely audible. She only saw Adrian’s winning smile at the carnival and his worried gaze when he thought that Nova was hurt. He surely didn’t feel like her enemy.

     “Almost.” Ace replied in a steady tone, and his hands glowed with a lightly colored energy that oozed off of them. Nova saw a second later that he was pulling a knife towards her, Nova let the papers in her hands fall onto the floor where landed in a small pile with an inaudible complaint. “I want you to show to the people of Gatlon that we’re still to be feared, and that we shall overthrow those who rule this city. Nova, your actions will bring about the end of the Renegades. Are you ready to accept the mission?"

     Nova lifted the knife into her hands. The blade, which was made of a metal that almost glowed in the candle light, was about ten inches long from what Nova could tell, and the hilt was metal, too. It reminded her of her father’s work, but it didn’t have the same glow or the energy. The metal just felt flat, almost like the material of the fake helmet that the Renegades so happily displayed.

    Nova tested the weight of it in her hand for a second. She looked up at her uncle and nodded.


End file.
